Happiness Advantage: Cruising for a Cause, According to Tours.com

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Nov 5, 2013) - Joseph Campbell said it first: "follow your bliss." Cruise lines are taking these words to heart and heeding recent studies that show giving to others can be as powerful a pleasure as loving relationships or an amazing meal. Itineraries are incorporating depth experiences that allow passengers to take shore days and teach at an orphanage in Cambodia, help save native plants in Hawaii or tend school playgrounds in Ghana.

New "voluntour" excursions offered by Crystal Cruises' You Care, We Care program, for instance, allow for a variety of altruistic activities that passengers can choose during an 89-day, Los Angeles to London global journey departing January 18, 2014.

The latest issue of Travel-Intel looks at recent happiness studies and examines these new programs in the context of what kinds of experiences travelers are opting for these days. Similarly, travelers are seeking inner happiness in the form of spa and wellness vacations, which, according to surveys released last month, are expected to account for 16 percent of global tourism revenues by 2017. Healthy hotels and "earthing," are noted as some of the key trends in this industry.

These are just some of the stories in this week's issue of Travel-Intel. The weekly travel industry news channel from Tours.com reaches more than 100,000 sellers of travel in the U.S. and Canada.

The latest issue also includes new studies about millennial travelers, especially those who travel frequently for business, to find the up and coming road warrior of the future travels much differently the older business traveler. These millennial travelers are spending more, complaining more and engaging via mobile technology much more than their over 30 counterparts.

Also covered are quirky museum stops, to-do updates on destination Los Cabos, and a new trend in luxury travel: by 50-passenger private jet.

Answering the call for added privacy and security for the new consumer elite is Intrav, a Seattle-based tour company that offers dream trips to Africa, Asia and beyond via private Boeing 757-200 ER aircraft customized with 50 Italian-designed lie-flat seats and a crew of personal service attendants. The company is a member of the exclusive Kurtz-Ahlers collection of curated travel experiences.

Travel-Intel, a division of Tours.com, monitors the travel industry with weekly emailed updates on trends, news and destinations for a subscriber base of more than 100,000 travel agents in the U.S. and Canada, and an overflow of travel companies around the world. The publication dispatches writers to travel conferences and popular travel destinations to bring back the latest intel. Current features and archives can be viewed at www.travel-intel.com.

"Travel is a very personal experience and each person travels in different ways, for different reasons and for different goals," says Lark Gould, content director for Travel-Intel and Tours.com. "Travel-Intel helps those selling travel and those seeking travel to make more informed decisions amid a global well of chaotic possibilities."

As a veteran travel journalist who has been covering the travel industry for more than 20 years, Gould puts her incisive perspective into the weekly publication, with features and news updates, and also "packages" issues that detail great deals to be found at hotels and resort locations worldwide. Travel-Intel can be viewed as a stand-alone site on Tours.com. Gould also serves on the editorial team for travel in the online communities section of the Washington Times, and publishes her columns in Larkslist.

About Tours.com: Tours.com since 1995 - The Official Directory of Tours & Vacations Worldwide. Tours.com has a deep and searchable database of vacation and tour companies searchable by company name, destination and/or activity. A comprehensive one-stop Travel Resource section, plus the Find a Travel Agent Specialist search allows one to search for travel agents with in-depth knowledge in their chosen specialty.